


sunlight

by BreeTaylor



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Camp, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Mutual Pining, Richie Tozier is a Mess, lol there's a tag for that??, ride or die friendships, they're camp counselors my dudes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:47:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 18,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23793364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BreeTaylor/pseuds/BreeTaylor
Summary: "Ready to go, Eduardo?"Eddie made a face. "No, I don't like that either. Can you just use my actual name, please?""Hm. What would I get out of it?""...the knowledge that you're not a piece of shit?""Woah!" Richie said, taking a step back and dramatically slapping a hand to his chest. "Did you just... swear? I heard that's against the rules.""Fuck you," Eddie said without any real malice, the hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his lips."I'm going to have to call the camp police on you. Those exist, right?" Eddie rolled his eyes and started to walk away. "Is there like a camp prison? Or do we just shove the kids who misbehave into a canoe and take away their paddles?""You're ridiculous.""Thank you."- ☀ -camp counselor au where the losers all find themselves in charge of a bunch of kids at summer camp, but still manage to form lasting relationships in the process. tw for non-graphic abuse and self-harm. it's not shown graphically, but it will be talked about.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 15
Kudos: 52





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> is the it fandom still alive? boy oh boy i sure hope so because man am i late to the game and i need something to write to get me through this quarantine. 
> 
> on tumblr @castielsgrace

Richie did not want to go to summer camp. And he most certainly did _not_ want to be a camp counselor. There were so many other, better things he could be doing for his entire fucking summer that didn’t involve babysitting a bunch of kids without air conditioning.

His mom had insisted it’d look good on his resume—and on the scholarship applications he’d have to start come fall. As far as he was concerned, he could’ve accomplished the same thing by working at McDonalds, and that wouldn’t have taken every moment of his fleeting two-month summer. Orientation started the week after his graduation ceremony, which was just not enough time to sit back and do nothing like he’d wanted to all summer. The whole situation fucking _sucked_.

The camp was called Stillwood, and it was in the middle of fucking nowhere. The closest town was an hour away. By _car_. Thankfully his mother had allowed him to drive himself, so at least he’d have an out, but _fuck_. The camp itself was supposed to be pretty small. Only 10 cabins, and 10 counselors, himself included, with a few other random adults to supervise and cook and clean or some shit. Regardless, they were going to be outnumbered at least five-to-one with the damn kids.

He’d received his welcome package in the mail the day before his graduation. It’d contained a packing guide, the rule book (which he didn’t even humour the idea of reading), information about the orientation, and directions to the camp. Oh, and three brand new t-shirts in his cabin colour, which was a disgustingly vibrant mustard yellow.

Each one had the camp logo on the front and ‘counselor’ written on the back in big, black, blocky letters. They were pretty god-awful, but at least they weren’t used.

When Richie arrived in the staff parking lot, there was a kid that looked around his age leaning against a tree that seemed to be waiting for him. He had blonde-ish curly hair, and was wearing a dark green shirt just like Richie’s. “Hey,” he said when Richie stepped out of the car, pushing off the tree and walking over. “Welcome to Stillwood. You’re late.”

Richie looked at his watch. It was still 11:50. “I am not. I’m ten minutes early.”

“That’s basically late.” He waved off any further arguments. “I’m Stan.”

“Richie.”

“I’m one of the returning counselors here, so I’ll be one of the people helping you through today’s orientation events,” he said, sounding kind of bored. Richie wondered how many times he’d said the same spiel.

“You’re telling me you’ve done this more than once?” Richie asked. “Willingly?”

Stan rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t make you cool to not want to be here. Over three quarters of our staff are returners. It’s fun, pays well, and looks good for college.”

“Whatever,” Richie said. He popped the trunk of his car and pocketed his keys. “What am I doing with my shit?”

“First off, you’re going to wanna work on censoring yourself. Not swearing is one of the big rules here. Secondly, you’re going to have to hand over your keys. They get locked up until first break.” Stan held out his hand.

“Uh, I don’t fucking think so,” Richie said.

He sighed. “Look, Richie. I get you don’t want to be here, but you _are_. It’ll be so much easier for everyone involved if you just stop being a dick and follow the rules. Hell, you might even enjoy yourself.”

Richie highly doubted that. But he handed over his keys nonetheless, knowing a lost cause when it was standing right in front of him. And, honestly, Stan was probably right. He was stuck—literally _stuck_ now—in this place for the rest of his summer. Fighting with the other counselors clearly wasn’t going to do him any good.

“Great. You can grab your stuff. We’re all meeting at the auditorium for the welcoming messages and cabin handouts. Then, we’ll get some time to unpack before lunch.”

“The auditorium?” Richie asked as he followed Stan away from the employee parking lot.

“It’s really just a small stage outside the mess hall,” he explained. “It gets used for talent shows and announcements and stuff.”

“Oh.”

They walked past a big building that Richie assumed was the mess hall. As soon as they walked through the trees surrounding the building, the whole camp came into view. Directly in front of them was the fire pit, which was a pretty big area with lots of logs to sit on. To the right was the drop-off area for parents, and to the left was the rest of the grounds. The stage Stan mentioned sat at the start of what looked to be a standard soccer field. On either side of the field were the 10 cabins. On the far end of the field was the lake.

There were about a dozen other people milling about in front of the stage. Most of them were wearing colourful shirts, but there were also a few wearing the black or white t’s that the adult staff wore. “Welcoming messages should start soon,” Stan said. “Until then, mingle.”

Stan walked away before Richie could ask him anything else, joining a few other people in the crowd. He basically changed into a new person as he approached them, smiling as they hugged him. Clearly, more returners. Stan hadn’t been kidding. Richie turned away from him and to the rest of the crowd. Mingle, Stan had said. He hated mingling.

The person closest to him was a girl with short, red hair. She was wearing a long floral skirt and had her shirt—pink—tied into a crop top, exposing about an inch of her midriff. She looked over as he walked up to her, and even through the dark aviator sunglasses she was wearing, Richie could see her give him a once-over.

“Hey,” he said, nodding at her in place of a handshake. “Richie.”

She smiled. “Bev. First timer?”

“That easy to tell?”

Bev shrugged.

“You’re a returner, then?”

“Second year as a counselor, but I was a camper, too.”

“Cool. So… what should I expect?”

“Kids. Body odor. At least one mess that you’re never going to be able to forget.”

“Great.”

Bev laughed. “I’m fucking with you. It’s fun, honestly. Pretty chill.”

“So I keep being told.”

“It’s gonna be what you make it, dude. Go in with a shitty attitude, and you’ll have a shitty time.” She threw an arm around his shoulders, leading him towards the stage. “Think of it as a two-month vacation from the real world. No parents, and it’s never boring.”

“Alright, alright,” Richie said, shrugging off her arm. “I get it.”

“Don’t be a dick, Richie!” she said, and with that walked away from him to join Stan. Because of course they were friends. Another person joined them, and Bev pulled him into the biggest, tightest looking hug. He had short, brown hair and a billion freckles, and was wearing a red shirt. And, Richie discovered when Bev pulled away, a fanny pack. Richie sighed.

Richie stayed near the back as everyone started to surround the stage. An older woman with curly, greying brown hair stepped onstage and everyone clapped. A few people cheered, and Richie even heard a fucking whistle. “Hello everyone!” she said happily, waving at the group. “Welcome to Stillwood! To those of you returning: welcome home! Everyone else, I can’t wait to meet y’all. My name is Elaine, and I’m the owner and manager.”

Again, everyone clapped.

“Today is going to be all about getting yourselves situated. You’ll get your cabins, meet your fellow counselors, and get an idea of the grounds. We’re a smaller camp, so I want this to feel like family for y’all.” Another person stepped on stage holding a bunch of coloured lanyards that Richie assumed held their cabin keys. “Each of you will be in charge of a cabin, which will have either five or six kids. I know that can seem daunting to the newbies, but I promise it’ll be all good. All of us in white and black are here to help you, so don’t be afraid to ask.”

Six kids. Richie swore under his breath. That meant there’d be like sixty kids at any given time in the camp. He could feel the headache coming on already.

“Alright!” Elaine said, clapping her hands together. “I know you’re all excited to find out your cabin numbers, so let’s start it off. When I call your name, come to the stage and grab your lanyard off Maddi. Once everyone’s got their keys, you’ll have a half hour to start unpacking before lunch at 12:30. So, kicking off the year with cabin number one is Bev!”

Bev walked on stage with a smile and grabbed her pink lanyard, hugging Elaine before stepping off the stage. Elaine continued down the list. Stan ended up getting cabin eight, and the Richie was called up for cabin ten. The last cabin. He walked on stage and grabbed the lanyard—which was the same gross yellow as his shirt—off of Maddi. As he stepped off the stage he took a look at what was on it. There were a few different keys, labelled for various buildings, and a metal whistle.

“Alright, guys! Off you go!” Elaine said, and everyone immediately started heading for their cabins, excitedly talking to one another. Odd cabins were on the right, evens on the left. And from what Richie could gather, most of the girl cabins were on odds—though there were more boys cabins this year, apparently.

Richie headed left, walking down the path past each of the cabins. Two, four, six, eight… and finally ten. At least his cabin was closest to the lake. It might be nice to have a view. Or to be close enough to, y’know, drown himself.

He looked across the field and noticed that the kid Bev had hugged earlier—Eddie, he was pretty sure—was the one who got stuck on the girls side in cabin nine. He was unlocking his front door, so Richie did the same.

Inside the cabin were three bunk beds and three stand-up cabinets for clothes. Six kids. Ugh.

Thankfully, there was also a closed door at the back of the cabin that led to a separate room with his bed. A room that _locked_. From the _inside._ It was the best thing to happen so far. And sure, it was barely big enough to fit the bed, dresser, and desk that they’d provided, but he wouldn’t have to sleep in the same room as six preteen boys, and that was all that mattered.

And he got a window that looked right out onto the lake. Score.

Richie flopped onto the bed with a sigh. He was tempted to just skip lunch, but Stan and Bev’s warnings were too loud in his ears. Whether he liked it or not, he wasn’t going anywhere. No point in making life harder for himself by making everyone hate him.

So Richie unpacked. And he shoved the weed he’d brought in the very back of his underwear drawer in a pair of the grossest looking socks he owned. The last thing he needed were some kids finding his stash and getting him like… arrested or some shit.

By the time he got to the dining hall, most people seemed to have already arrived. Richie grabbed his tray from another helper—she had a sticker on her shirt that said her name was Nayomie—and turned to the tables in the hall.

He felt like the new kid at school. So many people already seemed to have friends to sit with, and he was forced to choose between sitting alone like a loser or picking a random group and praying for the best. Richie had worked hard to put his days as a loser far behind him, so he headed for the only people he’d spoken to so far.

Bev and Stan were sitting in the back right, next to one of the big windows that looked out at the fire pit. The guy from earlier was there, too, along with another guy wearing dark blue. “Can I sit here?” he asked as he approached the table.

Bev quirked an eyebrow. “Thought you’d be too cool for us returners.”

“Yeah, well. Sacrifices have to be made to assure my survival.”

Bev laughed. “Alright newbie. Take a seat.”

Richie did, on the same side as her and the guy in blue. He ended up sitting across from the fanny pack kid. “Eddie, right?” he asked.

Eddie nodded. “And you’re Richie?”

“Don’t wear it out.”

The guy in blue offered a hand, which Richie shook. “I’m Bill.”

“So you’re all returners?” Richie asked.

“Yeah. But Eddie’s go the most seniority out of everyone,” Bev said. “He practically lives here during the summers.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, but his cheeks were tinged with red in a way that told Richie Bev probably wasn’t far off. “How long have you been coming here, Eds?” he asked, leaning forward on his elbows.

“Since I was ten,” he said. “And don’t call me Eds.”

“Sorry. _Eddie_.” Richie turned his attention to Stan. “We’re neighbours.”

Stan sighed. “Yup.”

“Are we going to be the _mortal enemies_ type neighbours, or the _team up against everyone else_ type neighbours?”

“Neither. We’re going to be the _I ignore your existence because you already annoy me_ type neighbours.”

Richie feigned offense, flinching back. “Ouch. That’s a little harsh coming from my oldest friend here.”

“We’re not friends,” Stan said, taking a bite of his sandwich. He was really good at looking appropriately bored and annoyed. Still, everyone seemed amused by their interaction, which was all that Richie was looking for. Even Eddie, who seemed to be weary of his presence at first, had relaxed.

“Yeah, you’ll fit in just fine,” Bev said, bumping their shoulders together.

\- ☀ -

After lunch, everyone was directed back to the auditorium. Richie stuck with Stan, Bev, and Eddie, but Bill wandered off to go check on another returning friend they had—some guy named Ben. Elaine took the stage again, and she still looked almost disturbingly happy. Honestly, Richie would never understand how some people could just always be _on_.

“I hope you all had a great first meal!” she said. “For the rest of the afternoon, I want you guys to take the time to get to know the grounds. Returners, I’d love for you to pair with the newbies so that you can give some insight into what it’ll be like once the kiddos get here.”

She gestured off-stage to where Maddi was standing with a bunch of folded paper that Richie could pretty confidently say were maps. “Maddi’s got the map of the grounds for you all to pick up before you go. Try and think of places you’d like to take your campers for day hikes, and good spots for nature viewing. We’ll all meet up back here at four to talk about our discoveries. Have fun!”

Richie turned to Stan with a big smile. “Stanley,” he said, “what do you say, buddy? Wanna help a newbie out?”

“Nope,” Stan said, and walked off. He approached a timid looking blonde girl and introduced himself. Richie tried not to be offended. He turned to Bev with an equally big smile, but she was already shaking her head.

“I promised one of the new girls, Hannah, that I’d pair with her,” Bev said with a shrug. “Sorry, Rich.”

Richie sighed.

“I’ll pair with you,” Eddie said. His voice was quiet, almost… unsure. He wasn’t even making eye contact. It was kind of adorable. “If you want, that is.”

“Sure, Eds,” Richie said. He moved to throw his arm around Eddie’s shoulders like Bev had with him earlier, but Eddie flinched away. “Woah, I’m sorry.”

“I…” Eddie was staring at the ground, and his face was almost as red as his shirt. “Don’t call me Eds.”

“Okay, okay. Sorry.” Richie smiled, trying to ease the nervousness Eddie was radiating. It didn’t really work. “I’m going to go get a map, okay?”

“Okay.”

Richie walked over to where Maddi was and stood in the line of counselors waiting to get their maps. Stan came to stand beside him. “Eddie doesn’t really like being… touched,” he explained. “At least, not by people he’s not really close with. Especially not with strangers.”

“Oh.”

“Just don’t make him feel weird about it. We’ve all worked hard to make him feel welcome here and we don’t need you messing that up.”

“I wasn’t going to even mention it,” Richie said.

“Oh.” Stan shifted from one foot to another. “Good.”

“I’m not that much of an asshole.”

Stan shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

Richie stepped up and took a map from Maddi. Then, he turned back to Stan. “There’s a difference between being a dick and being a prick,” he said. “I make ‘your mom’ jokes, not pry on people’s insecurities.”

“Well, good,” Stan said. And he even smiled. “Though I can’t promise Eddie will like those, either.”

“He’ll just have to get used to them,” Richie said as he walked away, throwing a wink over his shoulder. When he rejoined Eddie, he looked much less uncomfortable. “Ready to go, Eduardo?”

Eddie made a face. “No, I don’t like that either. Can you just use my actual name, please?”

“Hm. What would I get out of it?”

“…The knowledge that you’re not a piece of shit?”

“Woah!” Richie said, taking a step back and dramatically slapping a hand to his chest. “Did you just… swear? I heard that’s against the rules.”

“Fuck you,” Eddie said without any real malice, the hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

“I’m going to have to call the camp police on you. Those exist, right?” Eddie rolled his eyes and started to walk away. “Is there like a camp prison? Or do we just shove the kids who misbehave into a canoe and take away their paddles?”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Thank you.”

“Can we please just get started?” Eddie asked.

“You’ve got it. Lead the way!”

Eddie did. They started at the fire pit, where Eddie explained that everyone would meet for an hour at the end of each day to have smores, or tell stories, or other camp-crap. Then, he led Richie to the field between the cabins. “It’s always set up for soccer,” Eddie explained, “but we also have volleyball nets that we can set up.”

The bathrooms were behind Bev’s cabin, which meant that they were the absolute farthest away from Eddie and Richie’s cabins as they could be. “It’s not a big deal until some kid _really_ needs to pee at 3am. Trust me when I say it is not a fun trek at that time of the night,” Eddie said, clearly speaking from experience.

Eddie walked them down the length of the field, pointing out the different cabins and sharing tidbits of information about each. “Have you stayed in every cabin?” Richie asked.

“I’ve been coming since I was ten,” Eddie said in place of an answer.

When they got to the beach leading up to the lake, Eddie stopped. “The camp technically owns this whole thing,” he said. “We don’t usually use all the wooded areas around the lake, but it’s nice to know there’s not going to be anyone coming in to start developing on it.”

“Can we take a canoe out?”

Eddie hesitated, looking out at the water. There was someone out already—Richie was pretty sure it was Bev—but Eddie still seemed unsure. “I dunno.”

“C’mon. I can’t even remember the last time I was in one of those things.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“I’m just saying, it’s probably best for me to practice now,” he said. “Last thing we need is me accidently flipping a canoe with a bunch of ten-year olds.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Trust me, the ten-year olds know what they’re doing.”

“Eddie,” Richie whined. “C’mon, please?”

“Fine,” Eddie said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But only because it’s easier to point things out from the water.”

Richie cheered and let Eddie lead him behind cabin 9. There was a big shed, and the door was wide open revealing a bunch of different water-activity related items. “Normally, these doors will be locked,” he explained as he walked inside. “It’s one of the keys we all have, but Elaine made the decision to keep the doors locked when the kids are here because we had campers sneaking out in the middle of the night to go boating a little too often.”

“Nice.”

“Not nice, Richie,” Eddie said, leveling him with a look. “Dangerous.”

“Yeah, yeah. So how do we get this thing out there?”

Eddie guided him through the process of carrying the canoe out and showed him where the ores were kept, but when it came to life jackets, Richie put his foot down. “Eddie. We’re old enough to not drown.”

“It’s a safety measure.”

“We’ll be okay.”

“We’re not supposed to go out without them.”

“Bev did.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Bev lives to break the rules.”

“I knew I liked her.”

“Richie.”

“Eddie.”

“Fine.”

Pushing the boat into the water resulted in Richie completely soaking his socks and shoes, which was a shitty feeling, but it was worth it for the simple fact that it made Eddie laugh. Richie realized that he’d barely seen the kid smile, never mind laugh, and that just wouldn’t do because he seemed so much more relaxed when he laughed.

Once they were on the water, things were surprisingly peaceful. They couldn’t move for shit, and both of them were reduced almost to tears with laughter as they tried, but it was nice. With great effort they managed to make it almost to the center of the lake. It really was quite beautiful out there, completely surrounded by trees. Eddie was pointing out spots in the distance that they generally took the campers.

Richie half-payed attention to what he was saying, but found he was focusing more on Eddie himself. He came out of his shell a bit once they got onto the lake. Like he was finally comfortable there. As he pointed back towards the camp, Richie noticed a bruise on his inner arm, just above the line of his t-shirt sleeve.

He was tempted to ask, but Eddie was smiling and Richie really didn’t want that to stop. Plus, he knew that some things were just… personal and he had the feeling Eddie wouldn’t want to talk about it. So, he asked something else instead. “Where’s your spot?”

“What?”

“C’mon, Eds. Your spot. Your favourite place to go when you want to be alone.”

“First of all, don’t call me that,” he said. “Secondly, if I had such a spot—which I don’t—I probably wouldn’t go around telling people where it was if I wanted it to stay private, no?”

“Fair point. But seriously. You’ve gotta know this place better than almost anyone here,” Richie said. “That means you’re bound to know the best hidden gems, right?”

“Maybe.”

“So, tell me about one.”

Eddie bit his lip. “Fine.” He turned around and pointed behind them, on the complete opposite side of the lake from the camp. “There’s a spot, just over there. A clearing right at the top of that rock cliff.” Richie followed the line of his finger, and there was in fact a cliff that overlooked the lake. It actually looked like the kind of place that Richie’s friends back home would dive off. “It’s a bit of a hike to get up there, and you’ve got to take a boat over, but it’s nice. Quiet.”

“Well, let’s go,” Richie said, grabbing hold of one of the ores.

Eddie shook his head. “No. This is supposed to be a tour of the places you’ll _need_ to know.”

“Yeah, yeah. And you’ve done a great job of showing me that stuff so far. But now I want to know the insider information.”

“We don’t have time. We’re supposed to be back in like an hour and I still haven’t shown you the first aid cabin, or the kitchen in the mess hall, or...”

“I promise we’ll make it.”

“I don’t know…”

“Please?”

Eddie sighed and grabbed the other ore. “Fine. But if we don’t make it back on time, I’ll have your head.”

“Deal.”

\- ☀ -

Richie learned two things on their hike up to Eddie’s spot: he was very out of shape, and Eddie really knew what he was doing. He kept up a near-constant stream of consciousness talk about how he found the place, and how no kids were allowed up there but he’d found it when he’d snuck away in one of his years as a camper. Richie wouldn’t have pegged him as the type to do that, but he was learning that Eddie was full of surprises.

When they finally reached the outlook area, Richie was _exhausted._ Eddie walked straight up to the edge of the cliff, looking down at the lake below, and Richie took the opportunity to try and catch his breath. He doubled over, hands on his knees, and sucked in air. Like, _fuck_. He hadn’t realized he was that out of shape.

Eddie—who was completely fine _what the fuck—_ turned back to Richie with a self-satisfied grin. “You’re gonna wanna get used to this stuff. Otherwise you won’t be able to keep up with your campers.”

“Oh, my campers are not going on hikes,” he said. I’ve just made the executive decision that we will be homebodies.”

Eddie laughed. “I don’t think you’ll get away with that, but I’m excited to see you try.”

“How are you not dying right now?” Richie asked. “You practically ran up that damn hill.”

“I like hiking,” Eddie said in way of explanation.

“You sure you’re human?”

“Fairly certain, yes.”

Richie, finally feeling like he was actually able to breathe a bit more steadily, walked over to join Eddie on the edge. He peered over and took a half-step back. “Woah. It doesn’t look that high from the bottom.”

Eddie took a seat on the edge, his feet dangling in the open air. Richie joined him, albeit a lot less confidently. He kept his feet crossed under him on the rock. Eddie looked completely relaxed. “I love it here,” he said. “It’s so quiet.”

“How’d you even find this place?”

Eddie shrugged. “I was good at sneaking away when I was younger. I was quiet so I generally fell under the radar when the counselors were dealing with like nine other kids who were literally screaming for attention. I’d seen this place before and I guess I wanted to see if I could find my way up here.”

“You must know this camp like the back of your hand.”

“Yeah. I’ve had lots of time to get to know it.”

Richie hadn’t ever really had a place that he thought of with the same fondness Eddie did Stillwood. He had places that he liked going—the skate park downtown, the forest behind his house, his childhood friend’s basement—but none that he could see himself willingly spending every moment of his summers in.

“You’ll have to show me more places,” Richie said. “After all, I’m going to need to get used to this hiking thing so I don’t look like an idiot when the kids show up.”

Eddie laughed. “Yeah. They’re going to eat you alive.”

“What?”

“Oh c’mon!” Eddie looked him over and rolled his eyes. “You’re typical city kid material.”

“I’m not a city kid.”

“Well you certainly act like one.”

“Because I don’t like hiking?”

“Because you think you’re better than this place,” Eddie said.

“I do not.”

“You do,” he said. “It’s so obvious that you think you’re better than us. That it makes you cool to not like summer camp.”

Richie sighed. “I might not’ve wanted to spend my whole summer here, but that doesn’t mean I think I’m better than you. I just think we have different interests. I never really understood the whole summer camp thing, but clearly you love it. That’s chill.”

“You should really try and give it a chance,” Eddie said. “You might find you like it here.”

If someone would’ve told Richie that even three hours prior, he would’ve vehemently denied it. But after Stan, and Bev, and Bill, and especially Eddie, things didn’t look quite as dire. Sure, it was still annoying that his whole summer was going to be wasted babysitting a bunch of kids, but maybe it wouldn’t be quite as bad as he was expecting.

“Fuck,” Eddie said, jumping to his feet and startling Richie out of his thoughts. “We’re going to be late.”

Richie looked at his watch. It was quarter to four. They were definitely going to be late. Unless… “We could jump,” he said. “It’d save us a lot of time.”

“Uh, no.”

“C’mon. Live a little, Eds.”

“There are so many reasons why that is a bad idea. Starting with getting completely soaked and ending with the possibility of a broken bone or two.”

“Oh it’s not that high,” Richie said. “My friends back home do this stuff all the time and we’ve only ever been to the hospital twice.”

“I don’t like those odds.”

“Suit yourself,” Richie said, taking a few steps back. “But I’m jumping.”

Richie ran full-speed off the edge of the cliff, Eddie’s cries to stop following him right over. Seconds later, he was plummeting into the cold-ass lake feet first. Richie surfaced and peered up at the top of the dive. Eddie was staring down at him and looked absolutely furious. “Fuck you, Richie!” he shouted.

“It’s not that bad, Eds! Just jump!”

Eddie did not jump.

Richie waited at the bottom, on the small beached area near their canoe, for the fifteen minutes it took Eddie to reach the bottom. He was still angry when he got there. “I can’t believe you did that,” Eddie said, shaking his head. “You’re such an idiot. You could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”

“I’m fine. I told you I’d be fine.”

“You can’t just go jumping off cliffs like it’s no big deal,” Eddie said, completely ignoring the fact Richie had even spoke. “Are you planning to show that to the kids? You’re going to get yourself fired. Or, you’ll end up in the hospital. Neither are good options, trust me. Elaine may seem nice but as soon as safety comes into play she’s all business.”

“Eddie.”

“And don’t even get me started about abandoning me up there. What if I got hurt on the way down? When would you have even known? What would you have done? What if there was a bear?”

“I don’t think there are bears here…”

“It was completely irresponsible and reckless and I should’ve never let you talk me into showing you this place. Fuck.” He stopped talking, finally turning to stare Richie down with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I wouldn’t have jumped if it wasn’t something I’d done before and knew I’d be okay to do,” Richie said. It was only a slight lie. He _had_ been cliff jumping before, but he had no real way of knowing if it was safe to do so here. “I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“You didn’t scare me,” Eddie said. “I just think you’re a moron.”

“Duly noted.”

“Can we please go back now?” he asked. “We’re already late, and I really don’t want Elaine to worry.”

“Sure thing, Eds.”

“Stop calling me that.”


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at me, keeping my self-imposed schedule that i didn't tell anyone about. wild.
> 
> (i cannot promise to be this good about weekly updates but i'll sure as hell try my dudes)

Elaine was in the middle of talking when they get back. Something about their activity for the next day. Eddie told him not to worry, that he’d done it all before and would fill Richie in at dinner. He was still mad, but more in the ‘fondly annoyed’ way than the ‘I actually hate you’ way. Bev barked a laugh as soon as she saw them, Richie still slightly damp and Eddie actively not looking at him.

“What the hell did you do?” she asked as they came to stand next to her in the crowd.

“He jumped,” Eddie said, “off a cliff.”

“It was pretty cool,” Richie threw in.

“It most certainly was not _cool_. It was reckless.”

“Well I think it was cool.”

“We’ll see how you feel about it in an hour when you’re still sitting in wet clothes and it’s getting cold. Those are going to take forever to dry. Have you ever tried to dry jeans without a dryer? It’s gonna take like three days.”

“Guess it’s good I brought more than one pair.”

“We have a dryer,” Bev said, rolling her eyes fondly. “And a washer. We’re here for two months—of course they’ll give us a way to wash our clothes. Eddie’s just being petty.”

“He would’ve known that if he actually let me give him the tour instead of dragging me onto the lake and up a cliff.”

Elaine dismissed them for dinner, and Richie headed to the mess hall with Bev and Eddie. They grabbed their trays—again from Nayomie, Richie was fairly certain she was the cook at this point—and headed for the same table. Stan joined them not long later, with the same girl from earlier in tow.

“Guys, this is Patty. It’s her first year here.”

“Hello,” Patty said, offering a small wave as she sat down. “Nice to meet you all.”

Bill joined them not long after, bringing two more people with him. Ben, who was a returner, and Mike, who was also new. Their table was getting pretty full, and Eddie was starting to look a little uncomfortable. To be fair to him, everyone was invested in their own conversations.

Richie turned to Eddie, pushing his own mostly finished tray away. “So. What’d we miss while I was waiting for your slow ass to hike down that hill?”

“I’m not slow,” Eddie said. “I’m careful.”

Richie waved him off. “Same difference. So?”

“Tomorrow is going to be a lot of grunt work,” Eddie said honestly. “We’ve got to pull out all the equipment and clean it, clean the cabins thoroughly, and start helping with food prep.”

“Food prep?” Richie asked.

“Yeah. Stuff that can be frozen for a while. Chopping veggies and fruit, and portioning out stuff. It’s actually the least awful of the jobs.”

“And who decides the jobs?”

Eddie smiled. “Usually, the returners. Elaine lets us pull sticks for jobs, and then we get to pick who we want with us from whoever is left over.”

“So when you somehow miraculously end up in the kitchen, you’re gonna bring me right?” Richie asked. “Your best camp bud.”

“I thought I was your best friend,” Stan said dryly from across the table.

“You betrayed me, Stanley. You’re dead to me.”

“Good.”

Everyone laughed, even Eddie. The conversation moved on to other things. Boring stuff. How old everyone was (17, except for Patty, who was 16); if they were going to college (everyone was); where they were from (everyone was within a three-hour drive, shocker). Richie was most surprised to find out that both Eddie and Stan lived in his town—just on the other side. They didn’t go to the same school (Eddie was home schooled, turns out), and it was doubtful they shared the same hangouts, so it didn’t surprise him that they’d never run into one another. It was just weird.

Eddie got real quiet when everyone started talking about family, though. He went right back to looking uncomfortable, and visibly tried to distance himself from the conversation.

After dinner, Elaine stood and addressed the crowd in the mess hall. It was almost impressive how good she was at getting everyone’s attention. “I hope you all managed to get a feel of the grounds today,” she said. “There will be lots more time for exploring as orientation week continues, so don’t worry if you didn’t get to see everything. Later tonight, we’re all going to meet at the firepit and kick off the season with the year’s first bonfire!”

People clapped; others cheered. Richie didn’t really get what everyone loved so much about camp bonfires, but he wasn’t about to be the downer of the group so he kept that opinion to himself.

“Before I let you guys go, though, we want to give you one more thing: your walkie-talkie!” Elaine held up her own walkie-talkie, which had been clipped to her belt. “We use channel 1 to communicate, so please try and keep that one for emergencies only. Channel 2 can be used more socially, if you so choose.”

The helpers started to disperse, handing out walkie-talkies to each person, along with a small charging dock. Richie could pretty confidently say he’d never actually held a walkie-talkie, so he turned the thing over in his hands and tried to discreetly figure it out. Everyone else was already turning theirs on, flipping between the channels to get a feel for the device.

“You twist the nob at the top to turn it on,” Eddie said quietly, pointing to a small nob next to the antenna. “You’ll feel it click on, and then the more you turn the louder it gets.” Richie turned it on, and the screen on the front lit up with 01. Eddie pointed to the two arrows underneath the screen, “You can change the channel with these buttons. And you hold down the button on the side to talk.”

“What’s our channel going to be this year, guys?” Bev asked.

“What did we have it as last year?” Stan asked.

“I think it was 12, but everyone knew it by the end of the summer so it kind of lost its purpose.”

Richie leaned closer to Eddie. “What’re you guys talking about?”

“We had our own channel last year. People do it all the time—it’s a way to talk without the whole camp knowing about it. But one of the people we shared it with ended up telling everyone halfway through the summer and kind of ruined it.”

“He didn’t come back this year,” Bev said. “Good riddance.”

“What about 17?” Stan asked.

“Too easy for people to stumble onto. We need a higher number.”

“69?” Richie asked.

“Mature.”

He winked at her.

“What about 29?” Eddie asked. “Most people give up at like 25.”

“29 it is.”

“If any of you newbies share it around camp I will know and you will be punished,” Bev said, leveling them all with a look. Eddie walked Richie through saving the channel to his favourites—there was a small button in between the arrow that would cycle between 5 saved channels—and then everyone decided to disperse before the bonfire.

Richie, for one, wanted to go change. Because honestly he felt kind of gross and Eddie was right when he said jeans just… wouldn’t dry. He walked with Eddie back towards their cabins. “What’re you going to do before the fire tonight?”

“Clean, probably,” Eddie said. “Elaine always has someone come in to do it periodically in the off-season, but I find they’re still pretty gross.”

“That sounds boring.” Richie stretched his arms above his head, fighting a yawn. Hiking was no joke, apparently. “Plus, don’t we have all week to clean?”

“Well, what’re you going to do?” Eddie asked.

“I’unno. Explore?”

“It’s going to get dark soon.”

Richie shrugged. “That’s part of the fun of it.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re going to go missing this summer?”

“It’s definitely a possibility. It’s happened before.”

Eddie shook his head. “Of course it has.”

“You could always come with me,” he said. “Keep me from getting too lost.”

“Or I could stay here and not get a bunch of bug bites on the first night.”

Richie rolled his eyes. He turned on his walkie-talkie and went to channel 29. “Alright, losers. Who wants to come explore?”

Bev was the first to agree, but it only took a little more convincing for everyone else to get on board. “What do you say, Eds?”

“Fine.”

“Hell yeah! I’ve got to go change, but I’ll meet you guys at the beach.”

“Bring a flashlight!” Eddie called after him as Richie jogged up to his cabin door.

“I don’t have one.”

He didn’t need to turn around to know that Eddie rolled his eyes.

\- ☀ -

Richie threw on another pair of jeans—the only pair he’d brought that didn’t have at least one hole in them—and pulled on one of his favourite hoodies. It used to belong to his dad, so it was like at least two sizes too big, but it was well-worn and therefore at peak comfort levels. It had been black at one point, but had faded over years of sunlight and was more grey now and _Queen_ logo on the front was barely visible, but it was still perfect.

Eddie was sitting on the steps of his cabin when Richie walked outside. He had two flashlights in his hands. “You can borrow this one for the summer,” he said. “I always bring extras.”

“Thanks!”

“Did you just ignore the packing list completely?” he asked as they headed for the beach. Mike and Ben were there already.

“No. I just didn’t have a flashlight at home and didn’t wanna buy one.”

Once everyone arrived, they gathered around one of the camp maps and tried to decide on a direction to take. In the end, Richie just started walking off into the woods behind his own cabin, trusting that everyone would follow. Eddie caught up first. “You shouldn’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Leave without saying anything.”

“I figured people would notice.”

“And if they didn’t?”

Richie shrugged. “That’s what the walkie-talkies are for.”

It got dark faster than Richie was expecting—probably because the shade of the trees only served to block the light of the setting sun. They all turned on their flashlights, lighting up the wood around them. They ended up at another beached area, maybe a ten-minute walk through the woods away. It wasn’t nice sand like the main beach, but instead just rocks that lead into the water.

There were four, long logs intentionally placed for sitting, which everyone took advantage of. Richie would never get over how _quiet_ it was. When they all stopped talking, the loudest sound was the water hitting the rocky beach—tiny waves created by the slight night breeze. It was the very end of the sunset at that point, and the whole lake was shining in the pink and purple light.

“I love it out here,” Eddie said softly, taking a seat next to Richie on one of the logs and looking out over the water.

“It is beautiful, I’ll give you that.”

“Where would you have spent your summer if it were up to you?” he asked.

Richie shrugged. “I’unno. Didn’t give it much thought, honestly. Probably in my room. Maybe at the skate park.”

“You skateboard?”

“Yeah. Do you?”

“Definitely not. I’d probably die.”

Richie laughed. “I think I’ve still got an old board in my car. If they ever give me back my keys, I’ll get it out and I can teach you.”

“You drive?”

“You don’t?”

“No. My mom said I had no need to know.”

“Huh. I’ll have to disagree with her—I think driving is a valuable skill.”

“You’ll get your keys back at the end of the month,” Eddie said, ignoring his statement. “Elaine gives us a couple days of freedom between the two sets of kids.”

“Ugh, that’s so long to wait. What if I’m, like, really craving a slushee or something?”

“Guess you’ll just have to wait like the rest of us.”

Bill and Bev started skipping rocks, and a competition quickly formed to see who’d get the most skips. It didn’t take long for everyone else to join in. Even Richie, who was admittedly terrible at skipping rocks and instead chose to try and sabotage everyone else.

He noticed that Eddie wasn’t there with them, and turned to see why. As soon as he did, the flash of a disposable camera blinded him. Eddie was standing a few feet away, smiling and holding said camera. Richie dropped the rock he was holding and joined him again on the log bench. “Want me to take a picture of you?” Richie asked.

“No,” Eddie said quickly. “I… don’t really like pictures of myself. I like capturing memories.”

“Fair enough.” Richie let himself fall back onto the grass, his back hitting it with a soft _thump_ as his legs dangled over the log. He stared up at the now-dark night sky. It was filled with stars. So many stars. “I suck at taking pictures with those things,” he said. “They always turn out like shit.”

“I like to think I’ve gotten pretty good,” Eddie said. He laid back too, albeit much more gracefully. “Some always turn out bad, but the majority will work.”

“You’ll have to show me when you develop them.”

They laid there for a while, just staring up at the sky as the sounds of everyone else skipping rocks and laughing. It actually didn’t feel all that different to the way Richie spent a lot of his Friday nights. Instead of a lake, it was usually a river, and there was usually a lot more music and alcohol, but the idea was the same.

He found that the quiet was actually a bit nicer.

A while later, Elaine’s voice came over their radios letting them know that the campfire was lit. They headed back, leaving the small beach behind and rejoining the other counselors at the firepit. Madi was handing out the stuff for smores with a really tall guy in a black shirt Richie hadn’t seen yet. The nametag on his shirt said his name was John.

The fire was loud. Everyone seemed to be talking at the same time, all at once. It felt even more stark compared to where they had just been. Richie made a smore with Bev, because she practically shoved the stuff into his hands, but he really wasn’t all that interested in the whole ordeal. Too many people, too much of everything. He slipped away when he was sure no one was looking and headed back to his cabin.

He put the flashlight Eddie lent him and his walkie-talkie on top of the dresser they provided, digging inside to find a pair of sweats to change into in place of his jeans. He didn’t bother changing out of his hoodie, but he did find the blanket his mom had forced him to bring. It was colder than he thought it would be.

He set his sleeping bag out on top of the vinyl mattress and climbed inside. He pulled the blanket over him and readjusted his pillow, trying to find the most comfortable position. He regretted not bringing the mattress topper his mom had bought for school—the mattress did very little to provide any comfort.

\- ☀ -

Richie woke up to banging.

It took him a full minute to remember that he wasn’t in his bed at home, and another to realize that the banging was coming from the door to his cabin. He jumped to his feet, blindly reaching out for his glasses, which he’d left on the window ledge above his bed the night before. “I’m coming!” he shouted as he pulled open his bedroom door. When he opened the cabin door, Eddie was standing, fully dressed in a clean, red shirt (without the camp logo this time) and a new pair of shorts on his steps. He looked much too awake. “Oh, hey.”

“You’re going to be late for breakfast,” he said.

Richie glanced down at his watch. It was only 7am. He groaned. “It’s so fucking early, dude.”

“Get used to it,” Eddie said, shrugging. “Breakfast is first-come-first-served so you’re going to want to get there when it starts.”

“Fine.” Richie walked back into the cabin, leaving the door open for Eddie. He grabbed a fresh pair of socks and threw on his chucks. When he came back, Eddie was still standing on the steps. “Let’s go.”

“You’re not even dressed.”

Richie yawned. “I’ll get dressed after food. I’m starving.”

Eddie looked appalled at the idea of going to breakfast in PJ’s, but he didn’t say anything as Richie walked past him and towards the mess hall. Halfway there, he finally said, “Your hair is a mess.”

“It usually is in the mornings,” Richie agreed. It was the drawback to having curly hair that was, in his mother’s opinion, ‘too long.’ If he had to guess, it was probably sticking up at odd angles all over the place.

“Why’d you leave last night?” Eddie asked.

Richie shrugged. “I was tired.”

“You could’ve said something.”

“Didn’t want to interrupt your guys’ fun.”

“I’m getting the sense you do that a lot.”

“Do what?”

“Walk away when you think no one’s paying attention.”

“Usually,” Richie said, reaching his arms above his head to stretch out his back, “no one is.”

The mess hall was busy already. Richie wanted to know how the fuck they all looked so awake already. He followed Eddie into line, watching as each plate got a scoopful of eggs, some pancakes, and a sausage link. Eddie turned down the eggs and grabbed a fruit cup instead.

Their table was already full. More morning people. Richie wasn’t sure he’d survive a whole summer of morning people.

“Hey, Rich,” Bev said as he and Eddie sat. “Welcome to the world of the living.”

“Mm, thanks.” He took a bit of his eggs and nearly spit it back out. “Ugh, never mind. I don’t think it was worth it.”

“The eggs are never good,” Eddie said.

Thankfully, the rest of the food was good. Or, edible at least. Tolerable. As everyone was finishing, Elaine once again stood up and pulled everyone’s attention. “Good morning, campers!” she said, chipper as always. Richie groaned. “I hope all of you slept well last night because we’ve got a full day today!”

Maddi rolled out a chalkboard that had the tasks Eddie mentioned written across the top along with a few other things. _Food prep, cabin cleaning, equipment maintenance, first aid._ Maddi also had a baseball cap in her hand that Elaine pulled names out of. Bill’s name got pulled first and he signed up for food prep. Bev’s name was next out of the hat, and she claimed equipment maintenance. Eddie was pulled third and he didn’t even have to tell Elaine before his name was being written under _first aid_. A girl named Vanessa was pulled for the last, and in Richie’s opinion shittiest, job.

One by one, each of them picked others to join them on their tasks. When it was Eddie’s turn, he chose Richie. “Why me?” Richie asked as Elaine moved on to Vanessa.

Eddie shrugged. “You have a car.”

“What good does that do?”

“The last time I did inventory for the first aid room, we were _severely_ lacking the proper equipment. I’m hoping I can talk Elaine into letting us run into town to get the rest of the supplies we need.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Freedom sounds great right about now.”

“You’ve been here one day, Richie,” Eddie said. “And it wouldn’t be freedom. We’d still be _working_.”

“Yes. But I could get some actual coffee while we’re there.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “We’re not going to be able to go today. Today is about cleaning, organizing, and making a detailed inventory.”

Stan laughed from across the table. Him and Patty and both been picked for food prep by Bill. Richie wasn’t saying it was favouritism, but it was definitely favouritism. “Good luck,” Stan said as he got up to follow Bill out of the mess hall. “You’ll need it.”

Eddie insisted they leave not long after because he refused to let Richie just stay in his sweats, no matter how much Richie tried to convince him it wasn’t a big deal. Eddie showed him where the first aid room was—attached to the building that had all the water equipment in it—and sent him to his cabin to get ready.

Richie put on another pair of jeans and Nirvana shirt, throwing a red flannel on top of it. He brushed his fingers through his hair in an attempt to somewhat tame it, then headed to meet Eddie. When he walked into the first aid room, Eddie had all the contents of every cupboard sitting in a pile on the cot against the wall. He was kneeling on the counter trying to wipe down the top shelf of one of the cupboards.

“That looks dangerous.”

“These cupboards are full of dust,” Eddie said, barely sparing him a glance. “We’re going to have to clean them out before we can even think about sorting things.”

“Okay, well, you’re going to fall and break your neck. Get down, shorty,” Richie said. He pulled the chair in the room over and stood on it, reaching the top shelf with ease.

“I’m not short,” Eddie grumbled, jumping down from the counter. “You’re just tall.”

“Whatever floats your boat. I can handle wiping down some shelves, you start… whatever it is that we’re supposed to be doing.”

One by one, Richie wiped down each shelf in each cabinet. He had to admit that Eddie was right—the amount of dust he was wiping off was pretty fucking gross. By the time he finished, Eddie had all the supplies organized in neat rows on the bed.

Richie whistled as he stepped down from the chair, peering over Eddie’s shoulder with his hands on his hips. “So, what’re we looking at, Doc?”

“It’s a mess,” Eddie said. “I don’t think Elaine took my list to heart last year. We’re missing the same things.”

“You did this last year, too?”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “I do this every year. I’m the only one that takes it seriously.”

“Okay, well, what now?”

“We make a new list,” Eddie said, “and then we go and tell Elaine we need to make a day trip to town.”

“And she’ll let us do that?”

Eddie shrugged. “She’ll have to.”

He pulled a clipboard out from one of the drawers, clicking the pen three times as he surveyed the stuff on the bed. “What can I do?” Richie asked.

“I’m going to read off what we have,” Eddie said, shoving the clipboard into Richie’s arms. “You write it down.”

“You got it, boss.”

\- ☀ -

It took into the afternoon for Eddie to organize the supplies into their proper places and create a (very detailed) list of the things they were still missing. Richie spent the time doing exactly as told and making sure not to comment on anything.

Eddie, he learned quickly, took first aid very seriously. It should’ve been endearing, but something about it didn’t sit right with Richie. Eddie didn’t just know first aid—he seemed to speak from experience on a lot of things. Again, Richie wanted to ask. But again, he thought better of it. They were getting along, and Richie was finding that he quite liked Eddie. He didn’t want to fuck that up by being an idiot.

Once he was satisfied, they went to Elaine’s office. “Come in, boys,” she said when Eddie knocked. She was sitting at her computer, but when they walked in she gave them her full attention. “How’s first aid, Eddie?”

“Good. But we’re missing a lot of really important stuff.”

Elaine’s smile fell. “Oh no. I did pass your list on over the off-season. I thought they got the things you asked for.”

“They didn’t.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Eddie.”

“We want to go into to town to get the stuff that’s missing,” he said.

“I don’t think we can spare an employee…”

“Richie drove here,” Eddie said, cutting her off. “He could drive us there.”

“You know my policy on that.”

“It’d be one day trip. Just to the pharmacy and back.” He smiled and gave her what could _only_ be called ‘puppy dog eyes.’ Richie didn’t know he had it in him. “Plus, you know you can trust me. I’ve been coming here since I was 10.”

“I do trust you, Eddie. It’s just that if I make an exception for you, I’ll be expected to make exceptions for everyone.”

“I doubt anyone would even realize.”

Elaine sighed. She rubbed a hand down her face. “Fine. _One trip._ But if anything goes wrong, Eddie…”

“It won’t. I promise.”

“Come get your keys off me tomorrow morning,” she told Richie. “But I’ll be taking them as soon as you guys get back.”

Richie saluted her. “Aye, aye.”

As they walked out of her office and back towards the mess hall for dinner, Richie couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” Eddie asked.

“You’re too good at that.”

“At what?”

“Conning people into doing what you want.”

“I didn’t _con_ her,” he said. “I _convinced_ her.”

“Call it what you want,” Richie said. “Either way, you’re too good at it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come find me on tumblr @castielsgrace because i need friends and specifically friends who still love these dumb clown movies


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i promise at some point there will actually be kids at this camp

Richie once again woke up to banging, but this time he knew right away that it was Eddie. He yawned, stretching his arms high above his head and hearing his right shoulder pop.

“Ow,” he muttered, rubbing tiredly at his eyes. Eddie knocked again. “I’m coming!” he shouted, stumbling out of bed and to the front door. “Are you going to make a habit out of this?”

Eddie was wearing full-length jeans this time, and a sweater, still red. “If I waited for you to wake up on your own, I get the feeling I’d be here all day.”

“Fair.” Richie left his door open again while he grabbed his shoes, but Eddie still stayed on the steps. “Do you only own red, or something?”

“No. I only _brought_ red. It’s my cabin colour.” They started walking to the mess hall. Eddie didn’t comment on the fact that Richie once again didn’t change out of his sweats for breakfast.

“And?”

“And I want to be able to wear clothes?”

“I thought we had to wear the shirts they gave us.”

Eddie grimaced. “They gave us like three. Did you seriously plan to wear three shirts for two months?”

“I was planning on washing them.”

“Still. Gross.” He pulled open the door to the mess hall, gesturing Richie through. “Did you not bring other yellow clothes?”

“I don’t think I _own_ other yellow clothes.”

Eddie sighed. “Good thing we’re going to town, then. Trust me when I say you’re going to want stuff that isn’t camp-issued.”

“Dude, I cannot afford a new wardrobe.”

“Thrift shops,” Eddie said as they made their way down the breakfast line. Same as the day before. Richie did not get the eggs. “You can probably get enough yellow stuff for the summer for under $20.”

“I thought this was a strictly work trip?”

“It still is,” Eddie said. “Me not having to witness what two straight months of wear would do to your shirts is better for _my_ work environment.”

Richie laughed. They were the first ones to the table—probably because it wasn’t even 7—and that meant they got the best spots: right up against the window. Richie looked out over the quiet grounds. People were going to and from the bathrooms and slowly making their way to the mess hall in pairs or small groups. He could only just see the lake in the distance, completely serene. There was no wind, so there were no waves. Even from the mess hall, the water was glassy enough to be able to see the reflections of the trees surrounding it.

Bev arrived next. She slammed her tray down, making Eddie jump. She didn’t even say hello. “How the _fuck_ did you guys get day-trip approval?”

“How did you even find out about that?” Eddie asked.

She shrugged. “I have my sources.”

“Well, we’re just going to get some stuff for the first aid room.”

“Richie,” Bev said. “My guy. My favourite newbie. Please take me with you.”

“Aren’t you literally in charge of equipment maintenance?”

“I just want to get some actually good coffee.”

“It’s not a fun trip,” Eddie said strictly. “It’s for work.”

Bev groaned, falling against Stan dramatically as he sat down. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Eddie is being a killjoy,” she said.

“Bev is being dramatic.”

“He’s going into town. And he’s bringing _Richie_.”

“Technically I’m bringing him,” Richie pointed out. “I’m driving.”

Bev smiled and leaned forward on her forearms, blinking up through her eyelashes at him. “Richie, love, what’s your last name?”

“Uh… Tozier.”

“Great.” The smile fell from her lips, replaced with a glare. “I see your favouritism, Tozier. I’m watching you.”

“Noted.”

After breakfast, Richie went straight to Elaine’s office to get his keys. She still seemed a little reluctant to let them go, but Eddie was nothing if not convincing. When Richie went back to his cabin to change, Eddie came in and sat on one of the bottom bunks.

“Which town are we going to?” Richie asked. There were two about the same distance away, one to the north and their hometown, Derry, to the west.

“Not Derry,” Eddie said.

“Fair enough. We’ll go north, then.” Richie pulled on a plain t-shirt and a button-down Hawaiian shirt. He threw on the same jeans as the day prior.

“Do you know how to get there?” Eddie asked when he walked back out of his room.

“Yeah. Once we get on the highway, it’s basically a straight-shot.”

Eddie didn’t look so sure. “We should bring a map.”

“We don’t need a map.”

“What if we get lost?”

“It’s part of the adventure.”

“I’d rather just bring one, to be safe.”

Richie put his hands on Eddie’s shoulders—he flinched, but not as aggressively as before—and bent down to meet his eyes. “We’ll be fine, Eds. Trust me.”

“Fine,” Eddie said. “But if we get lost, it’s on you.”

“I can deal with that.” He smiled, and let Eddie go, walking to his cabin door. “Got your list?”

Eddie pulled a folded square of paper from his back pocket. “Yup.”

They walked back towards the mess hall, cutting around the side to get to the employee parking. Richie’s was one of only 5 cars, which meant that he was likely the only counselor who drove. He pulled his keys from his pocket and unlocked the passenger side door, pulling it open for Eddie. Who looked less than thrilled at the idea of getting inside.

“ _This_ is your car?” he asked. “Does it even run?”

“Yes it _runs_. I’ve put hours into making sure that it runs.” He walked around to the driver side and unlocked his own door. When he noticed Eddie still hadn’t gotten in, he leaned his forearms on his roof and sighed. “What did you think I drove? I’m 17, this is about as good as I can afford. Just get in the car.”

Amazingly, Eddie listened. But he didn’t look any more comfortable inside. He buckled his seatbelt before Richie even sat down, holding the belt that ran across his chest tightly in both fists. “Your car is a mess,” he said.

“If you think this is bad, you should see my friends’ cars.” His really _wasn’t_ bad. There was the odd cup or can, and some random sweatshirts, but it definitely wasn’t a mess. “Can we go now?”

Eddie nodded, so Richie started up his car and threw it in reverse. His music started blaring as soon as the engine turned on and Eddie jumped at the noise. “Sorry,” he said, turning it down. “Used to driving alone.” Getting out of the parking lot was a fun challenge of avoiding potholes and trying not to fuck his car’s alignment.

Once they got onto the highway, and Eddie realized that his car wasn’t actually going to spontaneously break down, he seemed to relax a bit. “Do you like driving?” he asked.

“Yeah. I love it.”

“Why?”

Richie glanced at him. He was staring out the window, watching the trees pass by the window. “I’unno. I guess I like having the freedom to go wherever, whenever. It helps me relax when I’m stressed.”

“My mom says it’s too dangerous to drive.”

“Well, doesn’t she drive?”

Eddie nodded. “Only when she has to, though. Took me four months to convince her to let me go to camp in my first year.”

“Huh.”

“I guess I can see the appeal, though.”

“Yeah?”

“Part of the trouble with being homeschooled is that sometimes you can just feel… trapped, y’know? Like, I sometimes feel stuck in that house with my mom,” Eddie explained. “It’s part of the reason why I’m so excited for college.”

“Are you going far away, then?” Richie asked.

“No. Community college. So I can still live at home. Save money.”

“Oh.”

“I thought about going somewhere else, but I don’t have a lot saved up. I’d have to depend on scholarships, or financial aid. Mom says it’s not worth it, when I could just stay home,” he said.

“Did you try applying anywhere else?”

“Yeah.”

Richie glanced over. Eddie was staring at his hands in his lap. “And?”

“I got into the University of Washington, too.”

Richie’s eyebrows shot up. “Washington? That’s the other side of the country.”

“I know. I would never actually go, I just wanted to see if I could get in.”

“Why there?”

Eddie shrugged. “I’ve heard they have good medicine programs.”

“You want to be a doctor?”

“I did at one point. But mom thinks its impractical.”

“How the hell is being a _doctor_ impractical?” Richie asked. “Most parents would be thrilled that their kid wants to be a doctor. I know mine would be.”

“Yeah, well. It wasn’t a practical goal for me, anyway.”

“So what are you wanting to do?”

“I don’t know, okay?” Eddie said. “Can we just… not talk about this?”

“Yeah, totally.” Richie tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “You know, if you ever don’t want to talk about things, you just have to tell me. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” He could see Eddie run a hand down his face from the corner of his eye. “I just… camp is like a two-month vacation for me. From my mom, and the house, and just the same thing every day. I don’t want to talk about it while I’m here.”

“I get that. We don’t have to talk about it.”

“Thanks, Richie.”

\- ☀ -

They got to town just after ten, and Eddie directed him through the relatively empty streets to the pharmacy. Eddie shoved a basket into his arms once they got inside, and Richie followed him through the rows as he worked through the list. He definitely knew his way around the place.

“Will we need all this?” he asked as Eddie compared two different brands of alcohol wipes.

“You never know. Kids are like walking hazards.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. When I was in sixth grade, I managed to break my arm by falling out of bed.”

“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Eddie placed his choice in the basket. “How many bones have you broken?”

“Only my arm and a couple fingers.”

“My mother would probably have a heart attack if I broke something.”

“You’ve never broken a bone?”

“Nope.”

“ _How_?”

Eddie shrugged. “I’m careful?”

They moved through the store pretty quickly, gathering all the things on Eddie’s list and heading for the front checkout. The young girl at the checkout looked bored. “Back again?” she asked.

“Yes, thank you,” Eddie said.

“My dad says you have a problem. That you have Munchausen syndrome.”

“What’s that?”

“It means that your brain is broken and you pretend to be all sick and weak because you want attention,” she said. “He thinks you even hurt yourself to make it look like you’re not a big fraud.”

Richie frowned. “That fuck is your problem?”

“I’m just saying. He fits the bill.”

“Leave it, Richie,” Eddie said, pulling his wallet out of his pocket and handing her the money. She took it roughly from his hands and slammed the till shut. Eddie grabbed the bag without looking at her.

“I always knew you were a fairy. Have fun with your faggy boyfriend at that stupid camp” she said as they turned to leave. Richie felt anger shoot through him, but before he could turn and tell her where she could shove her misguided opinions, Eddie grabbed his wrist and tugged him from the store.

“Fucking—let me go, Eddie,” he said once they were outside. “She can’t just say shit like that, what the fuck?”

“She’s an asshole, Richie. And she’s stuck in this town working at her dad’s pharmacy because she probably didn’t get into any colleges. She’s not worth the time.”

“You can’t just let people talk to you like that.”

“Sometimes, talking back to them makes it worse,” Eddie snapped. “Now, she thinks I’m gay. Which is only going to give her more ammunition the next time she sees me.”

“Eddie…”

He held up a hand and sighed. “Can we just… move on. Forget this happened?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Richie got into the front to pop the trunk of his car, but he couldn’t push down the anger he felt towards that stupid girl. Who the hell did she think she was, saying that shit? Never mind to _Eddie_ , who was probably one of the genuinely nicest people he’d met in a while. What beef did she have with him?

Richie got out of the car and slammed the door shut. He walked past Eddie, ignoring his questions and heading straight for the coffee shop they’d passed on the corner. It was pretty quiet inside, probably because most people were at work already.

“Richie, what the hell?” Eddie asked as he stepped up to the counter to order.

“Can I get your biggest coffee, please? Black.”

“Sure. For here or to go?”

“For here.”

“Richie—”

“What do you want to drink?” he asked Eddie.

“Nothing.”

“Two coffees,” Richie told the barista.

“No. I don’t drink coffee.”

“Then what?”

Eddie sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tea. Green.”

“Okay. Just the one coffee and a green tea, please,” Richie told the barista. He paid for their drinks and took a seat at a table in the back.

“Seriously, Richie, what the _fuck_?” Eddie said, sitting down across from him. “You can’t just walk off like that. What is your problem?”

Richie sighed. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I just… I fucking hate when people think they can just talk to people like that. What makes her better than you?”

“Nothing. That’s the _point_. Her life is just as miserable as mine, and eventually she’ll realize that. But doing that?” Eddie pointed back towards the pharmacy. “That’s just giving her exactly what she wants.”

“I know that. I just…” Richie pulled his glasses off and rubbed a hand down his face. “Mom says I have a temper. Shit like that just sets me off. I know that calling her bullshit wouldn’t have helped, but…”

“I get it,” Eddie said softly. “It’s not really something that you can control.”

“Yeah.” He got up and grabbed their drinks from the counter, handing Eddie his. “So… what’s our plan now?”

“We finish these drinks, and then we get you some yellow clothes.”

\- ☀ -

Richie loved thrift stores. Namely, he loved the ridiculous clothes that he was able to find in thrift stores. A good half of his favourite patterned shirts—all of which his mother _hated_ —he’d found at the thrift store in Derry.

This thrift store was far better than that one, though. More selection, despite the fact it was smaller. The racks and shelves were so tightly packed into the store that it was difficult to walk through, but that just meant there were _so many_ options.

The first yellow thing Richie found had a bright red hibiscus flower and pineapple pattern. It was awful, and he adored it. He held the shirt up for Eddie to see. “That’s possibly the ugliest shirt I’ve ever seen,” Eddie said, laughing. He ran his fingertips over the pattern. “God, it’s awful.”

“It’s perfect.”

They found a few more simple yellow t-shirts and sweaters, as well as a few other button-down patterned shirts that Eddie absolutely hated, which meant he had to get them. On his way to the checkout counter at the very back of the store, Richie spotted a pair of yellow converse sitting on the top shelf.

“I need these,” Richie said, fully aware that there was a chance they wouldn’t even be his size.

“You shouldn’t get used shoes,” Eddie said. “Who knows where they’ve been, and it’s not like you can really wash them.”

“Eddie. I didn’t plan on washing _any_ of this shit.”

Eddie looked appalled at the idea. “That’s disgusting. Who knows when they’ve last been washed. Or who wore them last.”

“I mean, I’m about to wear them in the woods with a bunch of kids.”

“So gross, Richie.”

The converse were his size. Which was just proof that he needed to own them. “I love these, and I’m buying them.”

Richie dropped the lot onto the counter, where an older woman was waiting to ring them through. “Fond of yellow, are we?” she asked.

“We’re from the camp,” Richie explained. “I’m the yellow cabin counselor.”

She laughed. “Ah, yes. There’s always one of you that comes in and buys me out of a colour. First year as counselors?”

“Just for me.” He threw his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. “Eds here is a veteran.”

“That’s lovely, boys,” she said. “I’ve always thought that camp was a great place. My daughter went she was younger, but she lost interest before she was old enough to be a counselor.” She handed Richie his bag with a smile. “Good luck this summer, boys.”

Richie and Eddie headed back outside. “Guess we should head back,” Richie said.

“Yeah.”

“Bev’s going to be mad when she finds out we went for coffee.”

“She won’t know if we don’t tell her.”

“I feel like Bev will find a way. Bev knows everything.”

Eddie laughed. “You catch on quick.”

Richie unlocked his car, but Eddie didn’t make any move to get inside. “What’s up, Eduardo?”

“What if we…” He bit his lip. “We don’t _have_ to go back yet. We’ve only been gone a few hours.”

“Are you suggesting we ditch our jobs?” Richie asked. “I may have only known you three days, but I can pretty confidently say that feels out of character for you.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “You don’t know me, Tozier.”

“Alright, alright. I’m here for this. What do you wanna do?” Richie asked. “The world is our oyster.”

“I’ve always hated that saying. What does that even mean?”

Richie shrugged. “I’unno. Pretty sure Shakespeare came up with it, so it probably had something to do with wealth.”

“I never would’ve pegged you as the type to know about Shakespeare.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Eds.”

“Apparently.”

\- ☀ -

They went to a lake just outside town, stopping by 7-11 first to grab snacks and, in Richie’s case, a slurpee. Richie parked his car as close as he could to the beach, then climbed onto the hood. “I feel like that’s bad for your car,” Eddie said, but it didn’t take much coaxing for him to hop up, too.

“Let’s play a game,” Richie said.

“What game?”

“20 questions.”

“I really… am not a fan of that game.”

“You don’t have to answer anything you don’t want to,” Richie said. “I just want to get to know you better.”

Eddie bit his lip. “No questions I don’t want to answer?”

“Promise.”

“Okay, fine. But you’ve got to answer your own questions.”

“You got a deal.” Richie offered Eddie a sip of his slurpee, which he turned down, then asked, “If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?”

“Easy, New York.”

“New York?” Richie asked. “Why?”

Eddie shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to go. I want to see a Broadway show, and go to the Met, and central park, and get lost in a crowd of people.”

“Fair enough.”

“What about you?”

“Honestly, same. Broadway isn’t really my thing, but I’d love to go see SNL live or something. Alright, question two.”

“You mean three.”

Richie quirked an eyebrow. “Why doesn’t count as a question. Now, would you rather have endless love or endless money?”

“Honestly? Endless money,” Eddie said. “There’s a lot you can accomplish if you don’t have to worry about being able to survive.”

“Agreed. If you had to pick one of the camp losers to be stuck on a desert island with, who would you pick?”

“Stan, easily. He’d probably be the only one who would have any idea of how to keep us alive.”

Richie laughed. “Yeah, but he’d also probably be the type to abandon you if you got annoying. I’d pick you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you.”

“Why?”

Richie shrugged. “I think you’d be good company. And, if there were animals on the island that wanted to eat us I am confident I could outrun you.”

“Asshole,” Eddie said, slapping his arm.

“Just kidding, Eds. It’d be too boring to be stuck on an island alone, I’d never let them eat you.”

“Oh, thanks.”

“What’s a secret you’re still keeping from your mom?”

Eddie laughed. “Pick one. There’s lots.” He took a gummy bear out of the bag between them and popped it in his mouth. “There’s a lot of things that are just easier for her not to know.”

“Like what?”

“Like the fact that I’m currently eating gas station gummy bears on the hood of a dirty car, or that I’m skipping work, or that I applied for a university across the country.”

“She’s really overprotective, hey?”

“Yeah.” Eddie smiled, but it looked forced. “She means well. Now, what about you? What’s your secret?”

“I skipped this year’s formal to get high and drink with my friends in their basement and we ended up getting so fucked up that we slept in his treehouse despite the fact it was freezing outside.”

“You smoke?”

“Yeah.”

“That stuff isn’t good for you.”

“It’s not that bad,” Richie said. “And it’s not like I do it all the time. Just occasionally.”

“Still.”

“Alright, moving on because I don’t like the disappointed stare you’re giving me, what’s a secret you’ve never told anyone else?”

“Pass.”

“Fair enough.” Richie hummed, thinking about what to ask next. He knew what questions he _wanted_ to ask—why are there bruises on your arms, why are you so skittish around new people, why aren’t you getting out of your house if you hate it so much—but he didn’t want Eddie feeling uncomfortable. “Do you think I’m going to be any good at this?”

“At what?”

“This… camp counselor thing. Do you think any of them will even listen to me?”

Eddie smiled. “They’re going to love you, Richie.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“You’re fun. And the fact that you even cared enough to ask that proves you want to do well by them. That’s important.”

“I hope you’re right,” Richie said.

“I usually am.”

Richie smiled, grabbing a gummy from the bag and popping it in his mouth. He looked at the empty parking lot behind them. “Hey. Did you still want to learn how to skateboard?” he asked. “Because I’m pretty sure I’ve got my board in the backseat.”

Eddie laughed. “I’d probably die trying. I have no balance, at all.”

“That’s part of the fun of learning.”

“I dunno, Richie…”

“C’mon,” he said, hopping off his hood and retrieving the skateboard from the backseat. “I won’t let you get hurt, promise.”

Eddie sighed and jumped off the hood, walking over to Richie with a poorly hidden smile. “Fine.”

Richie showed him how to step onto the board and demonstrated how to push forward with one foot. When it was time for Eddie to step on, he stared at the board and chewed his bottom lip. Richie held out his hands. “Here,” he said. “I won’t let you fall.”

Eddie nodded and took Richie’s hands. Richie wedged his feet on either side of the wheels so the board wouldn’t move and Eddie stepped on. “Oh,” he said, “bouncy.”

“A little, yeah. Keep your left foot pointed in the direction you want to go, and the other one facing me.” Eddie adjusted his feet, and when the board moved, he tightened his grip on Richie’s hands. “It’s okay, I’ve got you. Bend your knees, it’ll help you balance better.”

Eddie bent his knees, still looking nervous. It was cute.

“Okay, I’m going to pull you forward a bit, just so you can get the feel of it moving. Sound good?” Eddie nodded, so Richie did. He wobbled a bit on the board, but managed to keep his balance.

As Eddie started to look more comfortable standing on the board, Richie talked him through how to push himself forward. Eddie did as he was told and, while still holding onto Richie, managed to push himself forward a bit. But when Richie suggested letting go, he shook his head quickly. “I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“Trust me when I say you won’t ever feel like you’re ready,” Richie said. “Sometimes you just have to go for it even if you’re nervous.”

Eddie nodded. He let go of Richie’s hands slowly and, though he wobbled, he didn’t fall. Eddie used his right foot to slowly push himself forward before returning it to its place on the back of the board. He glided forward a foot or so, then rolled to a gradual stop.

Eddie stepped off the board and turned to Richie with a megawatt smile. “I did it!”

“You did!”

“I didn’t fall!”

“You didn’t!”

Eddie laughed, and it only made his smile brighter. Richie watched him step back onto the board, more careful now that he was doing it on his own. He pushed off again, with a bit more confidence this time, and went a little farther. Richie leaned against his car and watched Eddie as he grew more confident in his movements.

Richie had expected him to be kind of awful, if he was honest, but god. Eddie was a natural. And he looked like he was actually enjoying himself, which was the important part. Before Richie could congratulate him on doing a great job, though, one of the wheels hit a rock and sent Eddie flying to the concrete. “Fuck,” Richie swore, running over to him.

Eddie sat up as Richie got to him, and he immediately started laughing again. “I’m okay,” he said.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. Just wasn’t expecting it.” Richie helped him to his feet, and Eddie brushed the dirt off his jeans. “You let me fall.”

“Sorry.”

“I’ll give you a pass on this one.”

“Want to try again?”

Eddie shook his head. “I think it’s better if I call it for today. Knowing my luck, the next fall will end us in the hospital.”

“That accident prone?” Richie asked, kicking the skateboard up and into his hand.

“You don’t even want to know.”

They went back to sitting on Richie’s car. His slurpee was mostly melted, but Richie drank the sugar water anyway as they sat in silence. Eddie was watching a boat on the lake dragging people in a tube behind it. Richie watched Eddie.

“We should go back,” Eddie said a while later, sliding off the hood of Richie’s car. “Elaine’s going to freak if we’re gone much longer.”

“We’ll just tell her we got lost,” Richie said, but he got down, too. He threw their trash into a nearby garbage before joining Eddie in his car. Eddie was much more relaxed than he was on the way out. The car was silent, aside from the music coming from the radio. Richie hummed along quietly, just to fill the air.

“Can I ask you something?” Eddie asked after a while.

“Go for it, Eds.”

“Do you really think it’s lame that I enjoy camp?”

Richie sighed. “No.” He started to tap a rhythm on his steering wheel, chewing on the inside of his lip. “My friends back home do, and I guess I did at first too. I came in with these expectations of what they thought it would be like.”

“But you don’t think it’s lame anymore?”

“Nah. Honestly, I think part of the reason I was so against it was because I’m nervous,” he said. “I never went to camp as a kid, so I never experienced the other side of things. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“It’s easier than you’d expect,” Eddie said. “Elaine gives us a lot of freedom to do what our campers want to do. Just listen to them.”

“I bet they love you.”

Eddie shrugged. “No more than the other counselors.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Eds. You’re too loveable to not be a favourite.”

Eddie laughed and shook his head. “Whatever you say, Rich.” He reached down and turned Richie’s radio up.

\- ☀ -

They got back to camp just as dinner was starting. Richie ran his new-old clothes back to the cabin, handing his keys off to Eddie for him to bring back to Elaine. When he got back to the mess hall, Eddie still wasn’t there. He joined the others at their usual table.

“Oh my god, they’re not dead,” Bev said as he took a seat next to her. “Tell me, Tozier. How did a trip to the pharmacy take almost eight hours?”

“We made a few pitstops,” Richie admitted. “I didn’t actually bring any yellow clothes, so we stopped at the thrift store.”

Stan grimaced. “You didn’t bring yellow clothes?”

“I thought we had to wear the shirts!”

“Gross.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “Well _so_ -rry I didn’t get the memo everyone else seemed to. There was nothing in the stupid welcome package that said, ‘bring your cabin colour clothes.’”

“I think Elaine thought people would just assume to do so.”

“Richie’s an idiot,” Bev said.

“Hey!”

“But that’s not the point here. That’s still a lot of time to spend in two shops.”

Richie shrugged. “We just hung out, okay? Went and chilled at a lake for a bit and got slurpees. I taught him how to skateboard… sort of.” Bev and Stan were looking at him like he had three heads. “What?”

“I can’t believe you got Eddie to skip work,” Stan said.

“I can’t believe you got Eddie on a _skateboard_ ,” Bev added.

Before Richie could comment on the fact that it was actually Eddie’s _idea_ to spend the extra time at the lake, Eddie himself walked through the doors of the mess hall. “Just… don’t give him a hard time about it,” Richie said as he watched Eddie grab his food from Nayomie.

“We would never,” Bev said. “It’s actually good. Eddie can be a little high-strung. We all try and get him to loosen up during the summer.”

Eddie sat down across from Richie and almost immediately took note of the awkward silence that fell when he walked over. “What? What’d I miss?”

“Just giving Richie a hard time for not bringing me back a coffee,” Bev said.

“I told you she’d know,” Richie said, leaning across the table to stage-whisper at Eddie, “she knows everything.”

The table erupted into a discussion on whether or not Bev was a witch—Bill and Stan were in agreement that she definitely dabbled, but Ben said she was just perceptive. Eddie stayed pretty quiet, amazingly, but there was a fondness in his eyes as he watched the group. Richie thought of his own friend group. Tried to imagine them forced to spend their summer with a bunch of kids and no alcohol or drugs.

He loved his friends back home, but he didn’t think they’d be able to do it. He didn’t even know what they’d talk about. For the most part, he was friends with them because they were the odd ones out at school, but in reality he’d never felt that they had much in common.

And there he was, sitting in a camp he’d so adamantly wanted not to go to, with a group of people that he already felt close to only two days in. It was a weird feeling, but Richie was almost glad he had the summer to explore it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come find me on tumblr @castielsgrace i make weird aesthetic board things for these chapters because i like to procrastinate


	4. Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry i missed a week last week! i had to move and didn't want to rush the chapter.
> 
> thanks for all the support so far, though! hope you guys enjoy! (and there's finally kids, wowee)

The kids were coming and Richie wasn’t sure he was ready for them.

Eddie kept telling him it’d be fine, and that he’d do great, but when he woke up the morning of drop-off day, his anxiety was sitting heavy on his chest. He pulled on his camp shirt—drop-off days were one of the few that they were required to wear them for—and yellow converse, attaching his walkie-talkie to the waistband of his jeans before heading to the mess hall for breakfast.

He was the last to get there, as usual, but Eddie and Bev had left a space between them at the table. As he sat down, Bev threw an arm around his shoulders. “Ready for the kiddos?”

“Not really.”

“You’ll be fine,” Eddie said. “Those kids are gonna idolize you.”

Richie rolled his eyes. “Oh, sure.”

“He’s right,” Stan said, sounding bored. “They always love the weird ones.”

“Thanks, Staniel.”

Stan made a face at the nickname, shaking his head. Elaine stood from her spot at the head table, clapping to get everyone’s attention. “Good morning everyone!” she said. “Hope you’re all excited for drop-offs today, because I know I am!”

Everyone cheered, drumming their hands against the tops of the tables. The excitement was almost palpable, and it was helping to ease the nervousness that Richie was feeling. It was only six kids, after all. He could handle six kids. Elaine explained the logistics of the day. The black-shirt staff would handle arrivals, directing the kids to the board that had the cabin assignments, and offering help to parents where needed. All the counselors would wait outside their cabins for the kids to arrive, welcoming them to camp and getting the bed assignments sorted.

Once everyone arrived, the welcome ceremony would start to kick things off before dinner.

Richie walked back towards his cabin with Eddie and Stan after breakfast. They all took a seat on his steps, knowing the kids were still going to be a while. Eddie pulled his fanny pack off and started going through the things inside.

“What do we even do when the first kid gets here?” Richie asked. “Do they all show up at once?”

“It really depends on the year,” Stan said. “There’s almost always a handful that show up at the very last minute, but generally parents get them here on time.”

“It’s a good idea to get the bunks sorted first, but while you’re waiting I’d do some icebreakers,” Eddie added. “Start getting to know the kids. Learn their names.”

Richie groaned. “I’m _awful_ with names.”

“You’ll get it, don’t worry.”

Richie tapped his feet nervously on the ground, both knees bouncing as he looked back towards the drop-off area even though he knew that there wasn’t going to be anyone there for a bit. Eddie put a hand on his knee, stopping the bouncing and grabbing his attention. “You’ve got no reason to be nervous, Richie,” he said.

“I know.”

Eddie pulled a pack of cards from his fanny pack. “Anyone up for a couple rounds of speed before the kids get here?”

“Sure,” Stan said.

Richie smiled. “Oh, definitely. You don’t know who you just challenged, Eds. I’m the reigning champ back home.”

Eddie set up the game between them and dealt. The game helped keep his mind off what was coming. Instead, Richie focused on destroying Stan and Eddie. He won the first two rounds, but lost the third to Eddie.

“You may be champ back home, but I’ve got that title here,” Eddie said. He won the following round, and Stan finally took the fifth. But before they could play a deciding round, Elaine’s voice came over the walkie-talkie.

“Our first campers are just pulling in. Everyone back to their cabins, please!”

Stan headed back to his cabin as Eddie collected his cards. “We’ll settle this later, Tozier,” he said. “And good luck.”

“Thanks, Eddie.”

Richie stayed seated on the steps of his cabin, watching Eddie walk across the field and to his own. Once there, he offered Richie a thumbs up and a smile, which Richie returned. He watched as the first cars pulled up and kids started to pile out, along with all their bags.

The first few kids went to Bev and Stan. Richie watched them excitedly make their way around the make-shift stage. Some ran directly for the cabins—clearly returners—while others looked to the painted doors on each, searching for their colour.

When one of the kids finally walked past Stan’s cabin and headed for his, Richie’s heart jumped into his throat. He stood up and put on his biggest smile. “Well, hello!” Richie said as he approached. “Congratulations on getting the best cabin assignment. I’m Richie.”

“Elliot,” he said, giving Richie a once-over. “Are you sure we’re the best? We’re the farthest away from… well, everything.”

“That just means we have more freedom,” Richie explained. “Plus, we have the best access to the lake.”

“Whatever you say, dude,” Elliot said. “Can I pick my bed?”

“Go for it,” Richie said. He followed Elliot into the cabin, watching as he quickly claimed the top bunk to the left of the door. “Is it your first year as a camper?”

“No, third,” he said. “You’re new though, right?”

Richie nodded. “You’ll have to show me the ropes.”

Elliot climbed onto his bunk and unrolled his sleeping bag, chucking his pillow at the end of the bed. As he did, another two kids shoved their way through the door, arguing the whole time. “I want the top this year!” one of them yelled. “You got it last year, it’s _my_ turn!”

“I’m older, I should get it,” the other said.

“By _three_ minutes!”

“Hey,” Richie said, interrupting the argument, “you can both have top bunk if you want. There’s still two free.”

Both kids turned to him, and Richie noticed that they were identical twins. He had to stop himself from groaning—it was one thing to have to learn six kid’s names, but it was a completely different beast to have to learn the difference between _twins._ He plastered on his best smile. The twins turned away from him and climbed onto the remaining two top bunks.

Before he could try and ask their names, another kid walked into the cabin. He was wearing a worn red baseball cap. He took one look at the three occupied bunks and groaned. “Seriously?” he asked. “I’m not even late.”

“Welcome to the yellow cabin!” Richie said. The kid didn’t acknowledge him at all, pushing past him to stare Elliot down.

“Do you move around a lot in your sleep?”

Elliot shrugged. “Not really.”

“Great.”

Richie had never felt as ignored as he did standing in the center of that cabin. The kids were all talking to each other without paying him any mind. He hadn’t even managed to get more than one of their names. Richie didn’t know much about being a counselor, but he had a feeling he was doing it wrong.

The last two kids to arrive seemed just as disappointed with their bottom bunk status. The taller of the two took the bunk closest to Richie’s room, leaving the last kid with the remaining one on the opposite wall. Richie watched as they bickered amongst themselves and started unpacking their duffle bags. “So…” he said, trying to get their attention. They ignored him.

Richie clapped his hands twice. “Yo! Listen up.” The boys stopped talking, turning their attention to him. They looked bored. “How about we start with some introductions, yeah?” When no one seemed overly interested in the idea, Richie continued. “I’m Richie, and you’re stuck with me this summer.”

He looked between all the kids, daring them to keep ignoring him. It only took a second for the twins to jump down from their bunks. “I’m Noah,” the one on the right said.

“Oliver,” the one on the left said. “We’re twins, obviously, and it’s our second summer here.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to tell them apart,” Elliot said. He introduced himself to the group. “It’s my third year.”

Richie looked at the kid in the baseball cap. He sighed. “I’m James. It’s my third summer here, too.”

The last two introduced themselves as Isaac and Logan. They were both first timers, which made Richie feel a bit better about his lack of experience. “Alright, now that we know each other—and know that I will most definitely forget all of your names—let’s get some ground rules down. One, there will be no midnight bathroom breaks. The one thing I value in this life is my sleep, and it will _not_ be interrupted. If you’ve gotta go, hold it.”

“I don’t think you can—”

“Two, we will be following the buddy system for any adventures outside the immediate camp grounds. The last thing I need is for one of you to go missing. Finally, I want you guys to check in with me any time you want to do something without the rest of the group. Deal?”

Elliot shrugged. “Yeah. I guess.” The rest of them nodded slowly in agreement. Richie couldn’t help but smile. Progress.

The group of kids continued to stare at him—clearly expecting him to say something else. Richie faltered. “I hear icebreakers are a popular first day activity?”

James groaned. “Icebreakers are literally the worst. Please don’t make us do icebreakers.”

“Well, what else do you propose we do with the next-” Richie looked at his watch. “-twenty minutes?”

“Literally anything else?” Elliot asked.

Richie rolled his eyes. “Fine. You lot keep unpacking; I’ll be right back.” He walked to the door, turning to give them a stern look before pulling it open. “Don’t leave the cabin.”

Richie made his way across the field, half-sprinting and trying to ignore the fact that he already felt like a failure. He knocked on Eddie’s cabin door. When Eddie didn’t immediately answer, Richie knocked again. Harder.

The door opened, but it wasn’t Eddie standing on the other side. Instead, it was an incredibly short kid with super curly ginger hair. “Who are you?” the kid asked.

“Uh, Richie,” he said. “I’m from the yellow cabin.”

“Why are you here, then?”

“I’m looking for Eddie.”

The kid screamed—like actually _screamed_ —for Eddie, who showed up at the door a half-second later. “Jamie! Are you hurt?” he asked. The kid—Jamie—shook his head and pointed at the door. “Oh, Richie. What’re you doing here?”

“Can I, uh… can I borrow your cards?” he asked. “My campers aren’t too interested in icebreakers, so I thought maybe cards.” Richie shook his head. “Y’know what, actually. You look busy. Forget about it, sorry.”

He turned away from the door, but didn’t even make it a full step before Eddie was grabbing his wrist. “Hey, it’s okay,” Eddie said. “Of course you can borrow my cards.” He pulled the deck from his fanny pack and handed them to Richie. “Is everything okay, Rich?”

“Yeah.” Richie nodded. “Yeah, of course.” Eddie didn’t look like he believed him in the slightest. “I just… it’s a lot. I’ve got twins.” He laughed nervously. “Twins! I’m never gonna be able to tell them apart.”

Eddie bit his lip. He turned back to Jamie. “I’m just gonna step out for a sec. Keep an eye on everyone for me?”

Jamie nodded, quickly saluting Eddie before heading back inside. Richie smiled. “Cute kid.”

“Yeah, he is.” Eddie smiled too. He let go of Richie’s wrist, finally, and nodded towards the beach. They started walking towards it. “It’s his second summer, and he’s been in my cabin both years.”

“Coincidence?”

“I asked Elaine if she could assign him to my cabin again. It took a long time for me to coax him out of his shell last year, and I didn’t want him going back to square one.” Eddie took a seat on one of the logs lining the beach. “Sometimes the older kids bully him for being short. And ginger. And shy. I hate seeing it.”

“It’s good he has you to watch out for him.”

Eddie hummed. “So. You’re freaking out a bit, huh?”

“Freaking out?” Richie scoffed. “Nah. No. I wouldn’t say _freaking out_. It’s just… a lot to take in, y’know? There’s _six_ of them. I’m in charge of six small humans.”

“It’s really not a big thing,” Eddie said. “And you’re not going to be alone, really. You’ve got all of us.”

“I know.” Richie sighed, finally taking a seat next to him. “I know. I just felt so unprepared in there. They talk so fast.”

Eddie laughed. “You’ll get used to it, trust me. Until then, just don’t let them talk over you. Lord knows that you can be loud as hell when you want to be.”

“Oh, talking to your mother about our sex life, are you?” Richie asked, nudging Eddie with his elbow. Eddie did not laugh. Instead he kind of… froze up. “I’m kidding, Eddie. I didn’t mean to offend you, I’m sorry.”

Eddie shook his head. “It’s fine. I’ve, uh… I’ve gotta get back. I’ll see you at the welcome ceremony, ‘kay?”

“Okay,” Richie said, but he was already walking away.

Richie headed back to his cabin, cards in hand. He mentally listed the card games he actually knew how to play as he went, trying to push the awkwardness out of his thoughts as he did. When he got back to the cabin, the twins were laying in the center of the floor singing at the top of their lungs. The other boys were ignoring them, busy unpacking their things. Elliot was carefully putting his clothes neatly away, a stark contrast to Isaac’s method of just shoving handfuls of clothes into drawers.

Richie clapped again to get their attention and, after a few tries, everyone turned to face him. “No icebreakers. Cards?”

“Cards!” the twins shouted.

\- ☀ -

Now that all the kids had arrived, the camp was a lot more crowded. Sixty-odd kids were crowding around the stage, all talking excitedly over one another. Richie lost half his kids almost as soon as they walked into the space—the twins ducked into the crowd at the same time Elliot walked off in another direction.

“They’re just going to find friends from last year,” Eddie explained, coming to stand next to Richie. “It’s okay. They don’t have to all stay together.”

“What if I lose one?”

“You won’t.”

He sat with Eddie towards the back, watching the kids interact. It was like watching old friends reunite. Out of all the kids in their two cabins, Jamie was the only one to stick near them. He looked nervous, but when Eddie kneeled down and urged him into the crowd, his confidence seemed to grow a little. It didn’t take long for him to recognize one of the kids from Stan’s cabin, and the nervousness completely dissolved into excitement.

“Lots of people come back, huh?” Richie asked.

Eddie nodded. “I think one of the best parts of this being a smaller camp is that the kids actually get to form connections—more so than they would in a camp twice our size, anyway. By the end of the summer, it’s like they’ve got their own little families.”

“Like you and Bev and Stan?”

“Yeah.” Eddie smiled. “I’ve known Stan for almost six years at this point, five for Bev. They’re definitely like family to me.”

Until his mom signed him up to be a counselor, Richie hadn’t really thought about summer camp all that much. He’d never been overly interested in sleepaway camps as a kid, and usually just did day camps with other kids from his school. But he could see how living with someone for a month a year would be different. More personal.

Bev and Stan joined them just as Elaine was taking the stage to start her welcome speech. “See you’ve got the twins, Richie,” Stan said, not even bothering to hide his smirk. “Good luck with them.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked. Stan shrugged, so Richie turned to Eddie. “What is he talking about?”

“It’s really nothing,” Eddie lied. God, he was a bad liar.

“Eddie.”

“They’re just… a bit of a handful sometimes. But I’m sure you’ll be fine!”

Richie groaned. Elaine called for the attention of the crowd and, much to Richie’s surprise, the kids started to quiet down. She was wearing a tie-dye camp shirt and had her hair pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head. “Hello, hello!” she said. “Welcome to Stillwood!”

The kids went wild. Richie could see Elaine laugh on stage. She tried to pull their attention again, and this time it took a bit longer for the kids to quiet. “It’s going to be a fun summer this year,” she said. “I hope you all managed to get your bunks sorted and got a chance to meet your counselors. There’s lots of familiar faces, but we’ve got some newbies too so make sure to show them the Stillwood love.”

Elaine talked more about some of the rules and structure of the camp, but it was all stuff that she’s already told the counselors before. Richie looked through the crowd, finding each of his kids scattered throughout. The two newbies—Isaac and Logan—were the only two still sitting together. The rest of them seemed to have found other returners that they were friends with. Richie was happy to see it.

“We wanted to start the year off with something really fun, so we’re going to have a big game of capture the flag!” Elaine said, pulling Richie’s attention back to the stage. “For those of you new to Stillwood, we do capture the flag a little different here. Instead of just playing on the field, we’re going to be using the woods behind Yellow cabin.”

Everyone cheered, and Richie looked to Eddie for confirmation. “It’s really fun,” Eddie said. “It’s more about strategy than normal capture the flag because there’s way more cover. You can be stealthy, or completely bombard them.”

Richie liked the sound of that.

“Odd cabins are going to be on one team, evens on another,” Elaine said. “Each team is going to be given a flag and ten minutes to set up a home base to hide it at. We’ve set up cones in the wood that show the parameters of the playfield and the center line. If we find you outside of those parameters, you’ll be held in the timeout zone for your side for five minutes.”

She went on to explain that the black shirts would be acting as referees, and that anyone found breaking rules would face 1-10 minute timeouts, depending on the severity. The rest of the counselors would work together with their campers to try and get their flags.

Everyone headed to the field to get into their teams and receive their flags. “You’re going to love this,” Eddie said as they walked over.

“You’re going down, Eduardo,” he said, crossing over to where Stan was waiting with the slowly growing evens team.

“We’ll see about that!” Eddie shouted back.

Each team was given their flag—black for odds and white for evens, each with the camp’s logo—and the ten minute timer began. The even’s side was farther away, which gave them a bit of a disadvantage in terms of time. The returning kids seemed to take the lead, though, leading the group through the woods to the very back left corner of the playfield.

Some of the older kids started giving tasks—gathering sticks, forming patrol groups, etcetera—as Richie stood back and watched with Stan. “They take this game very seriously,” San explained.

“I can see that.”

The only rule they had to keep in mind with their flag was that it had to be visible, and that it had to be reachable from the ground. The twins had the idea to hide it in a patch of daisies, disguising the white of it a little amongst them while still keeping it visible.

“Richie, you’re sticking with us,” they said. “We’re the stealth team.”

Stan snorted. Richie quirked an eyebrow. “We’re gonna kick some ass, kiddos.”

The two kids gasped at the swear, but neither of them said anything about it. Elaine’s voice came over the walkie-talkies of all the counselors as she counted down the start of the game, and Richie followed the twins to the middle line. They stayed crouched behind the bushes, watching as the kids on the other team prepared to bolt.

When Elaine finally announced the start of the game, everything went into chaos. Richie watched as kids ran across the center line, screaming the whole way. Everyone was already into it, and he could practically feel the excitement coming off the twins as they watched and waited for their opportunity to strike.

“Let’s go!” one said, bolting into the open and running for the cover of the bushes on the other side of the center line. They all made it across, amazingly. Slowly, they made their way around the perimeter of the evens side, keeping their eyes peeled for the flag.

Richie finally spotted it tucked away at the bottom of some bushes right on the parameter line next to the beach. Standing in front of it was Eddie, looking bored, and Jamie.

“I’ll distract them,” Richie said to the twins. “Once they come after me, you guys grab the flag and hide. Slow but steady all the way back, yeah?”

The twins nodded. Richie moved a few bushes away to avoid giving away their position, and then he jumped up. “Eddie spaghetti!” he called, immediately pulling Eddie and Jamie’s attention to him. Eddie frowned at the nickname.

“Get him!” he yelled.

Richie turned and ran, keeping within the parameter and ducking in and out of trees. He could hear Eddie and Jamie gaining on him, but when he turned to see how close they were, Richie’s foot caught on a branch and he went flying forward.

He hit the ground _hard_ , half rolling over his shoulder and landing on his back, staring up through a bunch of blurs that he assumed were trees.

Eddie was at his side in a second. “Are you okay?” he asked, leaning over Richie. His face was a blurry mess, too.

“I think so. Do you know where my glasses are?”

“Uh…” Eddie looked around and seemed to spot them a few feet away. He grabbed them and slipped them back onto Richie’s nose. “Better?”

“Much, thank you.” Richie sat up, groaning at the kink he felt in his shoulder. “You’re bleeding,” Eddie said, pointing to his elbow. He was, in fact, bleeding. Quite a bit.

“I’m fine.”

Eddie shook his head. “You’re an idiot.” He opened up his fanny pack and pulled out an alcohol wipe and a Band-Aid. “Don’t move.”

Richie did as told and sat still, watching as Eddie cleaned up his cut with practiced ease and applied the band-aid. “Thanks,” Richie said.

“No problem.” Eddie got up and offered a hand to Richie. But as he started to pull him up, Elaine’s voice came over the walkie-talkies announcing that Richie’s side had scored a point. Eddie dropped his ass immediately back onto the dirt. “You prick! You planned that.”

“I actually didn’t,” Richie said, hauling himself onto his feet. “But man it worked out well.”

Eddie smacked his shoulder. “You suck, Tozier.”

“Thank you.” Richie bowed and headed back to his side for the reset. He couldn’t help but laugh at the cute little pout on Eddie’s face as he went.


End file.
